What You Need to Know About Digital Wills for Your Passwords

What You Need to Know About Digital Wills for Your Passwords

Many times, death comes so abruptly. In order to avoid inconveniences in the time of your passing or that of loved ones; it’s important to make some early arrangements. When one dies, he/she oftentimes has something to leave to specific loved ones. It could be physical assets, monetary assets or even vital online accounts, business email addresses, social media accounts and so forth. The latter is less common amongst many people and that is why we now have digital Wills to take care of this. Digital Wills contain all of your online passwords, usernames, security questions and other digital details that can help you or your family members settle any issues that may arise.

Why Choose a Digital Will?

Nowadays, so many of our daily activities are managed online: from online banking and the supervision of investments to online social media platforms and running small businesses. A digital Will is more of a necessity if you really care for your loved ones and want to avoid complications and anxieties in the event of your passing.

Imagine if a firm manager, for example, passes on without sharing the company’s vital passwords and account details. This could lead to endless hand-offs, time wastage and stressful processes trying to recover the deceased confidential passwords or get access to the company’s accounts. It is advisable to create a digital Will in the following circumstances:

If you want your family member/ close relative to run your daily online activities in case of your death.

If you have vital financial assets online and want to ensure someone you trust to settle the account

If you run a business or company’s office and want to leave passwords/ critical company’s details behind if something happens.

If you have an active online presence and you want it handled as per your needs

How to go about Creating a Digital Will

Before you can successfully create a digital will, we suggest you contact Marinaccio Law to ensure that you are following all legal procedures properly. You would not want to go through all of this time and effort thinking you had all of your bases covered just to find out too late that your document was not legally binding. This procedure also requires you to get passwords and vital details in advance. In a case where you receive the power of attorney or when you grant someone similar authority; you should make official documentations and an inventory, inclusive of all the online accounts and websites.

The website name, passwords, username, web address, security questions & answers, security codes and PIN numbers are some of the essential information you will need. If you are the beneficiary of the digital inventory, make sure you know the login procedure as well as how to handle the whole inventory.Other details like the Voicemail PIN, Mobile phone’s passwords, Bank account PINs, Medical IDs, Loyalty cards and even WiFi passwords should be well documented.

Digital Heirs

Some of the websites have special processes where you can designate a digital heir. Such features need to be activated, you should also fill in the details of the person you choose to be your heir. This will enable them to carry out your final wishes.

Password Manager

To successfully come up with a digital Will, you’ll need a password manager to ease the process. A password manager collects all the necessary information in one secure place. Retrieving and organizing information becomes easy and efficient.